Here’s Why These 3 Rank-And-File Union Members Are Running for Maryland Public Office

BALTIMORE – Determined to win a larger role in the state Democratic Party organization, Maryland’s labor unions are entering the 2018 off-year election season early, and betting on some of their own rank-and-file members for places in the state legislature and other local offices…

…For Alethia McCaskill, the 2016 presidential election was only the end point of a growing conviction that she should become more involved in local elections. The African-American neighborhoods around her home in the suburb of Catonsville have long suffered from neglect from their current officials, especially Democratic Sen. Shirley Nathan-Pulliam, she says. So the SEIU Local 500 member decided to take the leap and challenge the incumbent in the party primary coming up in June.